About Us
Fulton County Arts is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization focused on community engagement projects funded by donations, sponsorships, and grants. Illinois Humanities, the Illinois affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, has chosen to support FCA to activate the humanities in Fulton County, and surrounding areas. Thank you Illinois Humanities for your generous support!
FCA Mission - An arts organization of volunteers focused on building community - encouraging involvement, promoting social equity, supporting cultural needs, and celebrating diversity.
Solidarity over Charity
The critical examination of the difference between charity and solidarity, is that charity work tends to keep our system in place, where as solidarity work focuses on systemic change.
1 / Who creates the problem?
Charity work is often based on the premise that marginalized people have some sort of deficit. Those who work in solidarity, on the other hand, understand that conditions of inequity are created by the dominant culture.
2 / Who holds the knowledge?
Charity work flows from the premise that the giver has the expertise to decide both what the community needs and how to provide it. Solidarity work, however, assumes that the recipient community is in the best place to determine its own needs, and they have the right to determine how and when and if a service will be provided and by whom.
3 / Where is the accountability?
Charity work turns accountability inward so that the organizations providing services are ultimately only accountable to themselves and their funders. Yet, solidarity work turns accountability outward so that served populations decide whether or not the work is beneficial.